Sydney Metro
|el = 1500V (DC) overhead line |operator = Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) }} Sydney Metro is an automated rapid transit system in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sydney was the first Australian city to build an automated metro system. The network will be controlled by Sydney Metro which was established in July 2018 and is an operating agency owned by the NSW Government. It has been announced that Jon Lamonte will be the Chief Executive of Sydney Metro, which will be part of Transport for NSW's Opal ticketing system. The first line is planned to consist of 31 stations and 66 km of track. It will be served by driverless, single deck Alstom Metropolis trains, arriving every 4 minutes in peak hours and every 10 minutes at other times. The first stage, called Sydney Metro Northwest, is currently testing and is expected to open in May 2019. It will link Rouse Hill to Chatswood. Construction has Commenced on Sydney Metro City & Southwest, an extension across Sydney Harbour, through the Central Business District (CBD) and then on to Bankstown. This stage is expected to open in 2024. Sydney Metro West, a separate line between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta, was approved for financing by the New South Wales Government in June 2018 and is expected to open in the second half of the 2020s. Plans and projects involving a high speed, rapid transit underground railway in Sydney date at least back to 2008, although an initial proposal was raised as early as 2001. Despite extensive plans for an underground network in the past, disputes over privatisation and funding had hampered government approval, delaying its inception. In spite of difficulties getting the project off the ground, government approval for what was initially known as the North West Rail Link, Sydney's first underground metro, was given in 2013. Route extensions and a name change to the Sydney Metro soon followed. Sydney Metro Northwest The first stage will connect Sydney's north-western suburbs to Chatswood. 23 km (14 mi) of new track is planned between Rouse Hill and Epping, including eight new stations. The 13 km (8.1 mi) Epping to Chatswood rail link will then be converted to rapid transit standards and segregated from the existing Sydney Trains network. Passengers will be able to interchange with the existing system at both Epping and Chatswood. Construction on Sydney Metro Northwest began in late 2013 and the first services are scheduled to start in 2019. In November 2016, Sydney Metro, in particular the John Holland Group, Dragados and Transport for NSW, were awarded the 2016 NSW Premier's Award for Building Infrastructure for the 15 km twin-tunnels in Bella Vista and Epping, which are currently the longest tunnels constructed in Australia. The completion of these tunnels in early 2016 marked the completion of the first stage of Sydney Metro Northwest. The NSW Premier's award recognises "infrastructure projects in the state that make a difference to the local community". Sydney Metro City & Southwest The second stage will extend Sydney Metro Northwest, currently under construction, 30 km (19 mi) from Chatswood on the North Shore, to Central in the city central. The centrepiece of the project is a new twin-tunnel rail crossing under Sydney Harbour. Together with planned improvements to the Main Western line, the project is expected to increase capacity on the Sydney rail network by up to 60%, and allow for the movement of over 100,000 extra commuters across the network every hour. The City & Southwest extension represents the first phase of the "southern sector conversion" envisaged in Sydney's Rail Future. The existing T3 Bankstown Line corridor between Sydenham and Bankstown will also be converted to rapid transit standards, and therefore the stations on this corridor will no longer be served by Sydney Trains. Sydney Metro Metropolis Set Twenty-two 6-car Alstom Metropolis electric multiple units have been ordered for the network. Each single deck train will feature two dedicated areas for prams, luggage and bicycles. There will be three doors per side per carriage and no internal doors between the carriages. In a 6-car configuration the trains will sit 378 people, with a total capacity of 1,100. Seating arrangements on the Alstom trains will be longitudinal, in accordance with the style of most other metro trains. A full-scale model of the new train has been built for use on public display, including at the annual Sydney Royal Easter Show. It consists of the front carriage, including its distinctive nose. Members of the public are able to tour the inside of the mockup. It is approximately 75% of the length of the final design for the new carriages, having two doors instead of three. These trains were built in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, India. The first six-car Sydney Metro train arrived in Rouse Hill on 26 September 2017 and will undergo testing in the coming months. In February 2018, dynamic testing on the first of the trainsets began. Testing is being done on brakes, passenger information displays, lighting and door operation. Stage 1 is due to operate with 6-car trains running on 4 minute headways. After the addition of the Stage 2 extension to Bankstown the system will require at least 59 six-car trains to run every four minutes during peak periods. However the stations’ platforms will be configured to allow for future use of 8-car trains and the signalling system designed to allow for 2 minute headways, both of which are planned to be introduced once sufficient patronage demands it. Eight-car trains have a design capacity of 1,539 customers, and increasing the running frequency to ultimately 30 trains per hour (2 minute headway) would provide a maximum capacity of 46,170 passengers per hour per direction. The line will run 21 or 22 hours. Other Proposals Hurstville The second phase of the southern sector conversion would have seen two of the four tracks between Sydenham and Hurstville, part of the Sydney Trains Illawarra line, converted to rapid transit and added to the Sydney Metro network. This would increase rail capacity between Hurstville and the city by 10 trains per hour. Though a precise construction timeframe was not provided, the plan envisages all work being completed by 2031. The Hurstville conversion would add eight stations and 9 km (5.6 mi) to the metro network. Developing plans for this extension has proven difficult, and the Sydney Morning Herald reported in February 2016 that the project may have been dropped. The likely reason behind the Hurstville metro proposal being dropped may have been due to issues with disruption for freight trains running on the Illawarra and South Coast Lines to connect to Moss Vale if trackwork affects the Southern Highlands Line. Sydney Metro West A scoping study into rail investment to service Western Sydney and the proposed Western Sydney Airport was announced by the New South Wales and Australian governments in November 2015.69 A discussion paper was released in September 2016. The paper proposed various options that could provide a rail link to the airport, some of which are or are likely to be metro lines. The paper also suggested two other potential metro projects: a new line between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta via Five Dock and Sydney Olympic Park and conversion of a section of the Airport Line between the CBD and Revesby via the existing airport. The New South Wales Government announced Sydney Metro West in November 2016, turning the CBD to Parramatta line into an official project of the government. The study's final report was released in March 2018. It proposed two new lines to ultimately service the Western Sydney airport precinct: a "North-South Link" from Schofields to Macarthur and an "East-West Link" from Parramatta to the "Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis" - an area south of the airport. The report suggested that "a metro or light metro style of train would suit the North-South Link". The East-West Link could form an extension of Sydney Metro West. Two extensions of the initial metro line were also proposed: an extension of the northern section from Cudgegong Road to Schofields and an extension of the southern section from Bankstown to Liverpool. At the same time, the governments announced the development of a new rail line serving the airport. This line would form part of the North-South Link, running south from St Marys to the airport, before continuing on to the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis. Funding for the line will be split 50:50 between the governments. The line is scheduled to open by the time the airport opens in 2026.